On the outermost side, one could vaguely see the Lizard People and Jackal-Wolf People stationed as sentries and archers on the watchtowers and arrow towers.
The green flag fluttered in the center of the camp.
Aaliyah put down the telescope.
"Are they training and standing guard on patrol?" Even though she saw it, she couldn’t help but whisper in amazement.
The distant monster base was completely different from those messy and scattered camps.
How terrifying... Gauss also secretly marveled in his heart.
Although he realized that as the level of monsters increased, their intelligence would also improve, and that large monster camps would inevitably develop a civilization similar to humans, witnessing the orderly appearance was still quite impactful.
And what he could see was only the tip of the iceberg on the outside of the camp; the facilities inside, the distribution of monsters, were temporarily unclear.
"This is the difference between serving a Dragon Lord and wild monsters." Sorin shook his head, a complex expression flashing across his face when mentioning the giant dragon, and then he reminded the others.
"The Dwarf workshop ruins we are exploring this time are near here."
"Be sure to act cautiously and do not disturb that monster camp."
The monster camp flying the Green Dragon’s flag was definitely the most powerful monster force Gauss had seen with his naked eyes since coming to this world.
Certainly not something a team of their level could handle.
He observed a while longer.
Gauss saw a beast-drawn cart carrying goods entering and leaving the monster camp from afar, covered with oilcloth, seemingly some raw materials and supplies.
Suddenly, Nancy put away the map and gestured for everyone to keep quiet.
As her pupils lit up again, she quickly said in a low voice.
"A team is coming over."
"Did they discover us?"
"Not necessarily. Their footsteps are scattered, it seems like a routine patrol that just happened to come nearby."
They quickly scanned the surroundings, and their gaze finally settled on several huge collapsed rocks covered with thick moss.
"Hide first."
Everyone skillfully slipped into the crevices between the boulders, using natural cover to completely conceal themselves.
"Elton."
"Leave it to me." Elton immediately raised the Sacred Light, and as a shallow, gentle glow enveloped everyone, their presence suddenly seemed to be shielded, vanishing into the invisible.
The traces they left outside, activity marks, all quickly disappeared.
Fortunately, not long ago, everyone had already placed their mounts in a quiet and secluded valley, otherwise, with the size of the mounts, it would not have been convenient to hide right now.
Just less than two minutes after they had hidden, a team of monsters appeared nearby.
Leading was a goblin wolf cavalry riding a giant vicious wolf, small in stature but quite lean, with a much stronger presence than the big goblins Gauss had encountered before.
Following it were four Lizard People hunters, wearing leather armor and carrying poisoned steel spears, their forked tongues flickering, seemingly sensing heat sources and smells in the air.
The last in the team were two Jackal-Wolf People sentries holding crossbows, their gaze eagle-like as they scanned the surrounding corners.
This monster team was well-equipped and coordinated, maintaining a suitable combat formation as they moved, communicating silently with hand signals, looking every bit like a well-trained regular army.
Fortunately, Elton’s divine art didn’t fail, and after surveying the area and finding nothing, the team reactivated with a gesture from the leading goblin wolf cavalry, heading swiftly toward another direction in the forest.
It wasn’t until the patrolling monster team’s figure completely disappeared into the depths of the woods that those hidden in the crevice let out a long sigh of relief.
"That was close..." Aaliyah touched her forehead, wiping away nonexistent sweat.
The patrol team just now was entirely composed of elite-level monsters, and the concern was not about the battle itself but about alerting the distant monster base due to the battle.
This encounter also made Gauss and the others realize that their plan to explore the target ruins might not be so smooth.
After observing for a while longer and confirming that no second patrol team would arrive in the short term, they continued their advance.
They groped around for a bit.
"Here we are."
Suddenly, Nancy spoke up.
Here? Gauss looked around at his surroundings.
What met Gauss’s eyes was a dense thicket and intertwined vines, along with several ordinary rocks half-buried in the soil and covered in moss, showing no trace of any man-made buildings.
If Nancy hadn’t spoken, he would have subconsciously overlooked this place.
"The entrance collapsed and was completely covered." Sorin explained in a low voice. "If it weren’t like this, others would have gotten here long before us."
Sorin stepped forward, his sturdy fingers pushing aside the vines to reveal relatively regular stone blocks underneath. As he forcefully wiped away the thick dirt and moss on their surface, clear geometric carvings emerged.
"This is it, no mistake!" The Dwarf’s voice carried a hint of excitement and an understated heaviness.
He took out a palm-sized hammer and gently tapped continuously on the surface of the rock blocks.
Under the influence of Nancy’s soundproof spell, a barrier enveloped the surrounding area, preventing even a single sound from escaping.
Inside the barrier, faint "ding ding" collision sounds occasionally arose.
When he tapped a certain spot, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Found it, everyone step back." He gestured to the other team members, indicating them to spread out.